Author Episodes

Join hosts Shannon and Ann on Travel Time Stories with Shannon as they dive into the vibrant and unpredictable world of Southeast Asia with special guest Melissa Rodway. Melissa, author of 'The People You Meet: Luxury, Leeches, Love, and Lao-Lao' and host of Fly Travel Radio, shares captivating stories from her 2010 trip through Southeast Asia and China, blending backpacking with luxury travel. Discover the challenges, unforgettable characters, and profound life lessons she enc...

Join Shannon and co-host Ann on this episode of Travel Time Stories as they sit down with author and Marine Corps veteran Tony Scott. Tony shares his multifaceted journey from Cleveland, Ohio, to becoming an attorney, public speaker, and writer. Discover his insights on overcoming imposter syndrome, the importance of authenticity, and code-switching.

⚠️ Content Note: This episode includes discussions of grief and loss. Please take care of yourself while listening. Grief doesn’t come with a timeline — and it doesn’t look the same for everyone. In this episode of Travel Time Stories with Shannon, Shannon and Ann sit down with Lisa Rites, certified grief educator and author, for an honest, compassionate conversation about the many forms grief can take — including loss, divorce, and life transitions that don’t always get acknowledged. Toge...

What happens when you follow curiosity — on the road and on the page? In this episode of Travel Time Stories with Shannon, Shannon and Ann sit down with author Teri M. Brown to talk about adventure, storytelling, and the courage it takes to dream big — even when the road is long. Born in Athens, Greece as an Air Force brat and now calling the North Carolina coast home, Teri has lived a life shaped by movement and curiosity. In 2020, she and her husband rode a tandem bicycle across the Unit...

What happens when travel stops being an escape — and becomes a mirror? In this episode of Travel Time Stories with Shannon, Shannon and Ann sit down with Kristen Crabtree, author and transformation guide, to talk about freedom, identity, and the inner journeys that shape our lives. From 2016 to 2020, Kristen traveled full-time across the U.S. and Canada in an RV — seeking freedom, clarity, and a deeper understanding of herself. Along the way, she discovered a truth many of us learn the ...

What if the very traits you’ve questioned about yourself are actually your greatest strengths? In this episode of Travel Time Stories with Shannon, we sit down with Marita Tedder — author, speaker, and personality expert — to explore The Personalities and how understanding them can transform the way we see ourselves and others. Growing up alongside her mother, renowned author Florence Littauer, Marita has spent over 50 years helping people understand the why behind their behaviors. This co...

Brownies… for breakfast? It sounds too good to be true—but today’s guest says it’s not only possible… it might actually be better for you. In this fun, insightful, and surprisingly practical episode of Travel Time Stories, Shannon and Ann sit down with Lynne Bowman—aka the Glam Grandma—author of the bestselling cookbook Brownies for Breakfast: A Cookbook for Diabetics and Those Who Love Them. After being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, Lynne completely rethought the way she approached f...

What happens when your life takes a turn you never saw coming? In this fascinating episode of Travel Time Stories with Shannon, I sit down with Eric Robinson, a recently retired FBI Special Agent whose journey is anything but ordinary. Before spending 24 years in the FBI—working cases involving counterterrorism, crimes against children, gangs, drugs, and public corruption—Eric spent 12 years in Christian ministry, including pastoring a church. From the pulpit… to SWAT operations. From savi...

Paralyzed at 20… and yet, this is not a story about loss. It’s a story about what’s still possible. In this powerful episode of Travel Time Stories with Shannon, Ann sits down with Ken Kunken—whose life changed forever during a college football game at Cornell University. A single moment left him almost completely paralyzed from the shoulders down. But what came next… is what makes this story unforgettable. Ken went on to: ✔ Return to Cornell and complete his degree ✔ Earn mult...

What if laughter could help save your life? In this powerful and surprisingly uplifting episode of Travel Time Stories, Shannon and Ann sit down with comedian, author, and mental health advocate Dave Mowry to discuss bipolar disorder, severe anxiety, homelessness, recovery, and how stand-up comedy became a turning point in his healing journey. After losing everything to mental illness and enduring what he calls “14 lost years,” Dave discovered a comedy class designed for people living with ...

📚 Welcome to the very first episode of The Author Spotlight Series! Presented by Travel Time Stories with Shannon Limited Series: Sept - Nov Twenty authors. Twenty books. All genres. And twenty completely different minds waiting to be discovered. For our first Spotlight, Shannon and Ann sit down with poet Anthony Prieston, author of Whispers of Distress—an unapologetically dark, gothic and philosophical poetry anthology exploring love, suffering, decay, human nat...

The Author Spotlight continues with poet and writer GOODW.Y.N. How do you escape war when fighting is all you know? In this episode of the Travel Time Stories: Author Spotlight Series, Shannon sits down with Nicole Goodwin, aka GOODW.Y.N., author of Warcrimes—a raw and deeply personal poetry collection shaped by war, hate, love, motherhood, trauma, and transformation. GOODW.Y.N.'s experiences as a soldier in Iraq didn't simply disappear when the deployment ended. In our conversation, we explo...

What happens when you tell a dating service you want surprises? If you're Spetz, apparently you get more than you bargained for. In this episode of the Travel Time Stories: Author Spotlight Series, Shannon sits down with Spetz, author of Magnetic North: Navigating Love and Life with a Busted Binnacle—a funny, heartfelt and wonderfully unconventional memoir about romantic disasters, questionable decisions, friendship, memory and the people who somehow become landmarks in our lives. Our story b...

What if the worlds we create reveal something about the world inside us? In this episode of the Travel Time Stories: Author Spotlight Series, Shannon sits down with author, screenwriter, poet and creator Sai Marie Johnson, author of Of Masters & Slaves—a fantasy story filled with ancient oaths, dormant magic, betrayal, dangerous choices and an unbreakable bond between two sisters. At the center of the story are Princesses Natalya and Lidiya, sisters whose lives are torn apart when Lidiya'...

📼 What do you get when you combine two high school losers, dinosaur-evolved aliens, an ancient VHS tape, a Mexican cartel—and an author with enough caffeine to launch a small moon? Apparently, you get Geoffrey Breedwell. And quite possibly one of the most delightfully chaotic Author Spotlight conversations yet. 😂 In this episode of Travel Time Stories: The Author Spotlight Series, Shannon and Ann sit down with US Navy veteran, AuDHD author, comic book nerd and unapologetically weird storyt...

What happens when the life you built with someone you love suddenly changes forever? In this deeply moving episode of Travel Time Stories, Shannon and Ann sit down with Derrik Dyka, author of Good Grief Travel, to discuss grief, healing, loneliness, reinvention, and the unexpected ways travel helped him rebuild life after losing his wife of 24 years. Through journeys across Thailand, China, and beyond, Derrik discovered that healing often happens in the quietest moments—through conversations ...

What makes magic believable? What makes a villain unforgettable? And what happens when the characters—not the genre—are what truly pull you into a story? In this episode of the Travel Time Stories Author Spotlight Series, I sit down with C.A. House, author of Archblade: Legend of the Defiler, for a conversation that takes us deep inside the mind of a fantasy storyteller. We talk about C.A.’s almost scientific approach to building magic, the difference between morally complex villains and pure...

What happens when intuition, spirituality, the unexplained, and storytelling collide? In this episode of Travel Time Stories: The Author Spotlight Series, I sit down with Wendy M. Kok, author of A Grey Resort, to go behind the pages and discover the woman—and the experiences—behind the story. Wendy and I talk about her writing journey, the world and characters she created in A Grey Resort, and her belief that intuition can be a gift from God. We explore trusting that inner knowing, how person...

What if civilization didn't collapse because of war, zombies, or nuclear disaster? What if it collapsed because people simply stopped growing old? In this fascinating episode of Travel Time Stories, Shannon and Ann sit down with author T.A. Thompson to discuss his dystopian thriller The Mark—a story that explores survival, morality, motherhood, and the frightening consequences of a world where no one expects to live long enough to think about tomorrow. Together they explore: 📖 The inspi...

In a world where travel is as easy as a click, Vern Flaig takes us on a breathtaking journey that transcends borders and expectations. Ever dreamed of setting off on a grand adventure? Join Vern as he shares the incredible story behind his memoir, *Maple to Mandalay*, which chronicles his four-year odyssey across Australia and beyond, sparked by a heartbreak and an insatiable curiosity. This episode is a must-listen for adventurers, memoir enthusiasts, and anyone craving inspiration to chase ...

Today we're sitting down with author Sapna Srinivasan to go behind the pages—and this conversation takes us from Mira's fictional journey into Sapna's own. What happens when the life you've been taught you're supposed to want suddenly falls apart? In A New Mantra, Mira Sood finds herself starting over after discovering her husband's affair and the end of their arranged marriage. But rebuilding her life means confronting something even bigger: Who is she when she stops living according to ever...

At 72 years old, Rand Timmerman set out to hike the entire 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail with his younger brother, Ron. But they weren't simply climbing mountains. Both brothers were Vietnam combat veterans carrying experiences from the war that had followed them for decades. Rand was also walking a path of recovery from alcoholism, while Ron was grieving the loss of his wife. What began as an extraordinary physical challenge became something much deeper—a journey through grief, addiction r...

In this episode of Travel Time Stories: The Author Spotlight Series, we sit down with historical crime fiction author H.B. Berlow to go behind the pages of The Time of Judgment—a story that asks some uncomfortable questions about justice, morality, revenge and the past we carry with us. At the center of the novel is Harold Bergman, a Jewish private investigator and World War II veteran searching for a Nazi war criminal in Kansas in the aftermath of the Nuremberg trials. But finding him may...

Can love truly survive death? And what happens when the person who helps you find yourself again has been dead for 247 years? In this episode of Travel Time Stories: The Author Spotlight Series, Shannon and Ann welcome author Sarah Branson to go behind the pages of her deeply moving novel, Life Ends, Love Remains. At the heart of the story is Clara Donovan, a woman trying to rebuild her life after the collapse of her marriage and writing career. Seeking a fresh start, Clara retreats to her la...